JimmyB

Learning; but slowly!

Some while ago I bought an old LGB 4 wheel dining car (evilbay), which didn't quite meet my expectations, and decided it needed some work, which has provided me with some valuable lessons, these are the sequence of events:

I was in such a rush to buy this I didn't read the description, and more importantly did not look at the photos, the broken and missing parts could be clearly seen when I returned to the ad.

So delving in to my model bin I pulled out some Humbrol Plastic filler, shame it had been open for over ten years, a little stiff to apply.

I bought at a local model rail show so "Deluxe Perfect Plastic Putty" applied, left a couple day and rubbed down with wet "wet & dry", and was perplexed to find some had lifted, re-applied, allowed to dry and with dry 400 smoothed again, seemed okay until I washed the dust off, seems that not only is it water soluble before it sets, but also after it sets!!

The body is ready to be sprayed, Halfords plastic primer on with out a problem, however my 10 yea old rail match paint fails miserably.

Not being able to get to Halfords during the week I have purchased some PlastiKote, "touch dry" in 40 - 60 minutes, tacky after a couple of hours, and unlike the halfords left heavy residue on the extractor of my spray booth, which the Halfords did not.

So what have I learnt:

Buying second-hand; read the the advert, examine the photos, especially where it states the photos are part of the description don't be sucked in.

Two lessons on holding on to opened old stock, its not always cost effective to keep it "just in case"

Buy your provisions before you start.

Two lessons on new (to you) products, stick with what you know, or fully investigate the new product before you buy.

Thankfully this was a cheap coach, and was my first foray into this type of modelling for a while, no damage done, and no real expense - just remember next time.

idlemarvel

Registered

These are the kind of things that frustrate me intensely when I irregularly venture into kit bashing. I don't do it often enough to have a stock of glue, paints and other consumables that are not past their best before date, so I end up having to buy new stuff each time, which bumps the cost up and time consumed.

My experience with Plasticote is the same as yours, it takes ages to dry, at least a day.

Rhinochugger

Retired Oik

Some while ago I bought an old LGB 4 wheel dining car (evilbay), which didn't quite meet my expectations, and decided it needed some work, which has provided me with some valuable lessons, these are the sequence of events:

I was in such a rush to buy this I didn't read the description, and more importantly did not look at the photos, the broken and missing parts could be clearly seen when I returned to the ad.

So delving in to my model bin I pulled out some Humbrol Plastic filler, shame it had been open for over ten years, a little stiff to apply.

I bought at a local model rail show so "Deluxe Perfect Plastic Putty" applied, left a couple day and rubbed down with wet "wet & dry", and was perplexed to find some had lifted, re-applied, allowed to dry and with dry 400 smoothed again, seemed okay until I washed the dust off, seems that not only is it water soluble before it sets, but also after it sets!!

The body is ready to be sprayed, Halfords plastic primer on with out a problem, however my 10 yea old rail match paint fails miserably.

Not being able to get to Halfords during the week I have purchased some PlastiKote, "touch dry" in 40 - 60 minutes, tacky after a couple of hours, and unlike the halfords left heavy residue on the extractor of my spray booth, which the Halfords did not.

So what have I learnt:

Buying second-hand; read the the advert, examine the photos, especially where it states the photos are part of the description don't be sucked in.

Two lessons on holding on to opened old stock, its not always cost effective to keep it "just in case"

Buy your provisions before you start.

Two lessons on new (to you) products, stick with what you know, or fully investigate the new product before you buy.

Thankfully this was a cheap coach, and was my first foray into this type of modelling for a while, no damage done, and no real expense - just remember next time.

Paul M

Registered

I use plasticote on my models, yes I find it heavy but it always seems to dry quick enough. I find lots of light coats sprayed within 5-10 minutes of each other does the trick. Mind you my models tend not to be very intricate.

Wistow vale rlwy

Registered

Some while ago I bought an old LGB 4 wheel dining car (evilbay), which didn't quite meet my expectations, and decided it needed some work, which has provided me with some valuable lessons, these are the sequence of events:

I was in such a rush to buy this I didn't read the description, and more importantly did not look at the photos, the broken and missing parts could be clearly seen when I returned to the ad.

So delving in to my model bin I pulled out some Humbrol Plastic filler, shame it had been open for over ten years, a little stiff to apply.

I bought at a local model rail show so "Deluxe Perfect Plastic Putty" applied, left a couple day and rubbed down with wet "wet & dry", and was perplexed to find some had lifted, re-applied, allowed to dry and with dry 400 smoothed again, seemed okay until I washed the dust off, seems that not only is it water soluble before it sets, but also after it sets!!

The body is ready to be sprayed, Halfords plastic primer on with out a problem, however my 10 yea old rail match paint fails miserably.

Not being able to get to Halfords during the week I have purchased some PlastiKote, "touch dry" in 40 - 60 minutes, tacky after a couple of hours, and unlike the halfords left heavy residue on the extractor of my spray booth, which the Halfords did not.

So what have I learnt:

Buying second-hand; read the the advert, examine the photos, especially where it states the photos are part of the description don't be sucked in.

Two lessons on holding on to opened old stock, its not always cost effective to keep it "just in case"

Buy your provisions before you start.

Two lessons on new (to you) products, stick with what you know, or fully investigate the new product before you buy.

Thankfully this was a cheap coach, and was my first foray into this type of modelling for a while, no damage done, and no real expense - just remember next time.